Do bloggers *have* to be relatable?

I love blogging. I love expressing my thoughts in a written way, and learning new skills and interacting on social media. But one of the things I love most is reading other people's blogs, and watching Youtube videos. But if I watched people constantly that reminded me of myself I'd be pretty done with the internet.

November favourites and life update

Sitting down to do these favourites posts is one of my favourite things to do - it's such a lovely way of letting myself look back over the past month to see what I've achieved, how I've struggled, and what I've enjoyed most. November was a pretty quick month for me, crammed full of loads of things. 
As you all know, we moved house at the end of October. Settling in has taken me so much longer than I anticipated, and there are still loads of parts of the house that I feel are in no way complete yet. We've even still got a few boxes that haven't been unpacked!
I've also been having a pretty rough mental health month. Homesickness hit me pretty hard, and I was struggling with the amount of shifts I was doing at work. However, using this as inspiration for a few mental health blog posts really seemed to help a bit, as did a trip down to visit my sister. I also made the most blog posts I've ever made in a month in November, so I felt super productive.
Work is calling, so this post is a little bit rushed, but I do have a video all about my November favourites here:

Here are all the products I've been loving this month:
Next's Festive Spice candle Yankee Candle Simply Home Holiday Magic candle Garnier Micellar Oil Infused Water Sudocrem Skin Care Cream Le Sirop de Monin Chocolate Cookie Syrup The Garlic Farm Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil That Lame Company's Hopes and Dreams notebook
What were your favourites this month?
Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube

Watermelon Inspired Summer Makeup Look

I've been so excited about this post and the accompanying Youtube video for it for so long. I'm not going to lie, when I told my partner that I was doing it he looked like I'd just suggested I was going to become a ventriloquist: he was a little concerned. However, after explaining to him (and everyone else that I spilled about this post to) that no, I wasn't going full out and painting myself green, but instead I was just going to be taking a little inspiration from one of the best summer fruits out there. Maybe the best. Either way, watermelon is fab. 
Here's my video, showing you all how I made the look, and the links to all the products I used are in the description box below it! 

I had so much fun filming this one - would you like to see something similar, with a different fruit?! Let me know in the comments!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

June Favourites, A Life Update and VIDEO!

June was possibly the most exciting month of my 2016 so far? Who knows. Anyway, SO much went on in the past month that it has honestly been a whirlwind. I finally landed my first big freelance writing gig, which I'll be finishing off in the next week or two and I've been working around the clock to organise this! 
Away from the work front, I turned 22 at the beginning of the month, which meant I finally got to move away from the spending ban I've been ranting at you guys about for the past few months, even if it was only a couple of days' release. I got to see both my parents, my sister and even a cousin and uncle, so there were a whole tonne of festivities going on. Me and my boyfriend even hosted a barbecue, with reasonable success - the sausages weren't even blackened!
I also got to move out of my student house for the last time, which honestly could not have come sooner. I don't know why student housing landlords all seem to be genuinely horrible, have no regard for their tenants, and charge extortionate prices for their disgusting homes, but y'know, freedom tastes wonderful now. At the moment me and my boyfriend have moved into a small building off of his parents' house with the hamsters and Ted the bunny until we both get stable incomes sorted so we can rent a flat together. 
Seriously though, all of this in one month has has me swept off my feet half the time, and I'm hoping that July is a little more quiet so that I have more time to focus on my freelance work and blogging.
I've really been trying to up my skincare in the last month as we move into summer. I had been super lax with using moisturiser, and picked up a tub of The Body Shop's pinita colada body butter in an effort to combat this. This is part of a new range they brought out earlier this year and I can honestly say that I fell in love with this scent. It's definitely become my staple summer scent of 2016, and I can't wait to get my hands on some more of the range to see if they live up to this. I picked up the mini version of this and I'm honestly so gutted to have run out. Paired with this, I've been using LUSH's Rose Jam shower gel. I don't know what it is about this combo, but my skin feels amazingly soft, and I smell fab (if I do say so myself *wink emoji*). 
I've read so many posts about blogger's facial skin care regimes in the past few months that I've been itching to improve mine. But, well, the spending ban said no. So, I finally jumped on the Garnier Micellar Water bandwagon and fell a teensy bit in love. I've been using this after my LUSH 9-5 cleanser to remove any extra bits of makeup that didn't come off with my initial cleanse. I've also been following it up with Nip + Fab's Dragon's Blood Fix Pads. I'm not going to say too much about this combo now, because I'm saving it for another post, but let's just say that if you need a hydrating evening fix, I've got your back.
Nip + Fab really have done it for me again this month with their Kale Fix Clay Mask. This is another one I'll be talking about in more detail in the future. Although it's a clay mask, it is actually designed to hydrate dry/dull skin, and it really hasn't made my skin feel tight after using it at all! 
One thing I haven't really mentioned that I did in June is that I stripped the ends of my hair for the fifth time (why is it so dark, argh?!). It's now fairly blonde at the ends, and a dark red at the top (it doesn't look as bad as it sounds, I promise!). As a result of this, my hair has been a bit drier than normal, and in need of a slightly more intensive care routine. So, I've cut down on my hairdryer usage even more than usual, to just a couple of times a month. I also switched shampoos to give the John Frieda Frizz ease Miraculous Recovery shampoo and conditioner a go. These are doing wonders at keeping my hair nourished and hydrated, and I think they'll definitely have to be repurchased when *weep* they run out.
Finally we have Luscombe Drinks' Wild Elderflower Bubbly*. I first got to sample their drinks at the Bloggers Ball, and fell a little in love. Their PR team were kind enough to send me over a couple to try and oh my word this elderflower one truly hit the spot. paired with an ice cube or two, this is going to be my drink of the summer for sure. 
Here's my June favourites and life update Youtube video:

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

What I Got For My Birthday + VIDEO

In case you haven't managed to have a peek at my 25 things to do before I turn 25 post, I turned 22 on Saturday. I had such a wonderful day with my family and boyfriend, and managed to spread out the celebrations over three days (woooo!). I've got a little round-up of some things I was fortunate enough to receive on my 'big day' and I really wanted to share them with you all, so here we go! I love these kind of posts - it's a chance for me to be uber nosy and have a little peek into what other people enjoy. 

Here are some links to my birthday picks:

Paperchase Beautiful Slogan List Pad

I've already got cracking on using this one, and I'm really excited about keeping up to date with all of my freelance tasks in it!

Paperchase desk organiser

This is going to be sat on my desk permanently when I get properly set up in my new home (we're moving on saturday - *nervous emoji face*).

The Body Shop Mango Shower Gel

I love love love fruity scents in summer, so I'm pretty darn ready to get crackalacking on this.

The Body Shop Honeymania Shower Gel

This is one that I've been dying to pick up from The Body Shop for what feels like forever. It's sweet without being sickly and is really fab at making sure your skin doesn't get too dry.

Stitch Tsum Tsum

I've been really slow to catch up on the Tsum Tsum game, but this is my third now and I' hoping to have a Tsum Tsum space in our new flat.

Literary Paper Dolls

This was possibly my favourite present. I have SO many memories of me and my sister playing with paper dolls as children, and ones with a literary twist have basically made my life. 

Gryffindor top - Primark

I am absolutely in love with this top, and it's made me want to go and visit Harry Potter World even more than I already did!

I hope you enjoyed this post - what are you hoping to get for your next birthday?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

May Favourites, Life Update + Video!

It's that time of month again, when you're scrolling through your Bloglovin' feed, hoping and praying that there's something other than a monthly favourites, or new goals or life update post available. So, sozzles, but you've found another one. I actually love doing these - it gives me a chance to think about what really has gone on in the past month, what I'm looking forward to in the upcoming month, and which products I've been reaching for more often than usual. 
If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that in my April favourites post I told you all about my current spending ban as a result of the fact that I'm moving into a flat soon with my boyfriend. We've actually decided now that when we leave our student house (hallelujah), we're going to move into his parents' house for a bit. I really want to save up so that I can go to IKEA and splash out on allllll the pretty things on our new home, and we simply can't afford to do that at the moment. 
Something more exciting, but still money-related (boo), is that for the first time this month I've made enough money from my freelance writing and social media management alone to *almost* pay my rent *squeals*. I read a post by Vix Meldrew over the weekend all about getting engagement over followers and it really stuck out to me in terms of keeping things relatable. I often find myself getting stuck into the hype of keeping quiet when things go wrong, and piping up in gleeful terms about everything else. I love the positivity that this brings to my blog and I never want to move away from that, but my attempts at earning a living through freelance work over the past five months have honestly been abysmal. So, I am so so proud about the last month's earnings, to the extent that I could almost cry. 
Anyway, now that that little rant is over, let's get on to what I'm looking forward to in June. For starters it's my birthday month, so as of the 4th I will officially no longer be in the 21 club (does that mean I have to start doing real life adult things?!). I've also got a whole month's worth of exciting posts lined up for you guys, and I'm finally going to *fingers crossed* have a full time job again and get into a proper routine. 
Okay, okay, I know what you're really here for: the favourites, not me blabbing on about my life. So, what have I been loving in my second no-spend *weeps* month? I realised about half-way through May that I was having a bit of a mental health flare-up. Eventually I realised that it was basically caused by me cutting out my self care rituals (read about my favourite anti-anxiety beauty products and rituals here) to the extent that I just didn't really have 'me' time anymore. 
So, I took to my bath armed full of goodies, and practically shoveled in a *cough* reasonably sized amount *cough* of Champney's Cloud Nine bubble bath*. I actually picked this up at a blogger event they held, but it got lost and forgotten in my armoury of toiletries until this month. Alongside this, I grabbed my elderflower and prosecco tealights from New Look and we were good to go. Seriously, these candles smell absolutely incredible: lightly floral and a little sweet, even the tealights make a difference to the scent of the entire room. 
A bath isn't complete without a good tea, right? I love to ooze down into the warm water, with Netflix up (safely away from getting wet), and a cup of warm tea keeping my hands warm. I've now discovered the perfect tea for this: Taylor's strawberry and vanilla green tea. I've been searching for a replacement to Clipper's strawberry green tea for MONTHS and finally discovered a solution. All hail the tea gods.
Finally, a couple of beauty products sneaked their way into my favourites this month. The first is the gorgeous Mermaids vs Unicorns eyeshadow palette from Makeup  Revolution.  I'm really loving making summery looks with their sea-like hues, and I've spoken about this product in a lot more detail over on my Makeup Revolution haul post. 
Last, but not least, is my Dr Organic tea tree face wash. I've been eating pretty unhealthily recently, and so I switched from my Nip and Fab Glycolic cleanse face wash back to this in an attempt to reduce the number of toxins in my skin. I did break out on the first few days of  using it because it was drawing the oils out of my face to balance the PH a little, but after that everything calmed down and my face feels super healthy.
Here's my May favourites video (I'd love it if you checked my channel out!): 

What were your favourites this month?
Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

Vegan Chocolate Easter Haul

GUYS IT'S ALMOST  EASTER. I am so SO excited (in case you couldn't tell). Easter is always a wonderful time in our house, full of reflection, family get-togethers and of course the all important chocolate. Having an Irish family has major benefits at this time - who needs an Easter egg from one Aunt when you have seven? SO. MUCH. CHOCOLATE.
Anywho, moving on from the chocolate hype (ha, as if!), I actually gave chocolate up for March and it has been torturous. You can have a peek at my fundraising dechox page here and please please sponsor me to help raise money for the British Heart Foundation. This meant that when I filmed the video all about my vegan chocolate haul I was pretty much salivating, and looking at these goodies is making me feel the same.
As well as being vegan, the goodies I'll be sharing with you are all nut free. Living with a partner with a nut allergy makes it really hard for me to find vegan treats sometimes, so I've been extra excited about all of these!
Here's a quick roundup of what I picked up and why:
Moo Free Bunnycomb Egg I've sacrificed this to go to the boyfriend's mum as an Easter present because she avoids soya and dairy, and chocolate that does this is basically impossible to find. I was SO excited about this and may have to pick up a cheeky replacement in the post Easter weekend Easter egg sales aka *it's the most wonderful time of the yeaaaar*.
Moo Free Original Organic Mini Moo Original This is my absolute FAVOURITE vegan/dairy free chocolate bar of all time. In my video I bang on about things actually tasting like normal chocolate because this was the first milk vegan chocolate I had tried that actually did!
Moo free Mini Moos Bunnycomb Bar I'm anticipating this tasting something like a thin guilt-free Crunchie, plus it has a bunny on the front, so I mean, who can be disappointed with that?!
Moo Free Mini Moos Mint Bar I have a confession to make: After Eights are my guilty pleasure and I have been known to consume an entire box in a *cough* slightly less than average space of time. I genuinely cannot wait to try this dark chocolate minty bar out and see if it will rid me of these cravings for naughty minty treats.
Cocoa Libre Easter Chicks Is there anything more perfect? Seriously though these baby chickens are absolutely adorable and super tasty.
Cocoa Libre Orange Chocolate Frogs Any of my fellow HP fans out there loving the idea of a vegan chocolate frog? I know I am. Seriously though, I'm so ready to see if this can take on the holy grail that is a Terry's chocolate orange!
Cocoa Libre Sheep I bought these around Christmas time (here's a post dedicated to Cocoa Libre all about parts of their range) and couldn't help but repurchase this suitably Spring-y treat because um sheep are pretty awesome ... and tasty. 
D & D Chocolate Fondant Egg Halves I cracked one of these open when I filmed my vegan chocolate haul video and oh my god the centre is amazing. Ever wanted a vegan creme egg? This is the closest I have come on my journey to finding one.
Finally, here's my Youtube film of the haul, featuring me making a mess of myself and explaining about the goodies in a bit more detail!

I hope you enjoyed hearing all about my vegan chocolate haul - here's to a week of scoffing my face (in moderation of course, mwahahahaha).

Autumn Makeup Tutorial | A Foray into Vlogging

A couple of weeks ago I made my first ever Youtube video, eeeeek! This was incredibly nerve-wracking: I've never imagined myself in front of a camera, and I've got no experience in the world of video editing. However, I thought I'd share with you all my first attempt at it, and hope that we can start to connect via vlogging as well as blogging!
This is my quintessential makeup look for this season, and I always seem to end up coming back to it for informal events. 

As always, I hope you enjoy!